


Rhythm

by ShimadaGenji



Series: Sad one shots I keep writting at 1 am [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: (WHAT IS THAT TAG but yeah.. thats it basically), Gai saves Kakashi's life really hard, Kakashi doesn't care about himself (Gai does a lot), M/M, Major Character Undeath, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 04:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18491242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShimadaGenji/pseuds/ShimadaGenji
Summary: A shinobi must have a strong heart, to bear injury, pain, loss, and to stay the same (and do it all again).--Kakashi's ANBU team is in trouble and Team Chouza is the only around to help.Kakashi will put himself through anything to save his friends, and Gai does the same for him.





	Rhythm

Gai believed a strong shinobi should have a strong heart.  
Not only to sustain the physical effort of the fighting it was needed of them. 

But to push through the horrible things they’d see in their lives and to stay kind in the end.  
Gai himself was no stranger to the horrors of the shinobi lifestyle, he grew up in war time after all. His own mother was lost at an early age during a mission. He watched several classmates grow without a parent or both and some even lost them during the time they attended the academy. Some children died fairly early, leaving their parents to mourn instead and some were simply gone with no one else to miss them.  
Gai had to flee a mission knowing he’d never see his father again, dying to protect him. He’d never forget that day. The hole that ripped through Gai’s chest when he returned home alone.  
It hurt, a pain that no other physical pain could. He was devastated. Proud of the hero his father was but mostly guilty of the shame he felt for being the son of the eternal genin during the past few months.  
It hurt so much Gai thought his heart could will itself to stop.  
But still he persevered. He pushed through, shouldering his father’s dreams and hopes for himself and moved forward. Gai’s heart hardened but refused to grow cold, setting into the rhythm of youth to carry on.  
As much as that day brought a certain sadness to him, a wound to the heart that had healed, it still did not count as his most horrifying day of his youth. That day happened much later.

He was at around 18 years old. In a rare move, he was paired up with his genin team again (despite them all being jounin by now) and sent on a chase mission by the country of rice. They had to infiltrate and capture their target, going through his hired bodyguards. The mission itself was no issue and completed swiftly. However, before they could make their way back to Konoha, they received a new mission.  
A rescue mission.  
An ANBU squad was making their way towards their location and they were to meet up with them halfway and provide any backup necessary so that they could return to Konoha safely. That was all they were told.  
“Wanna bet it’s team Ro?” Genma had said, a habit of trying to make light of serious moments to calm down. Gai had locked his jaw and took determined leaps to his destination, not faltering in his pace as he made it to give his all to protect the team.  
But Genma had been right.  
“They’re up ahead.” Ebisu warned and sure enough the masked men landed near them only seconds later, not stopping to chat. Three ANBU dashed alongside them now, a fourth one slumped on the back of the captain.  
Gai couldn’t help but stare at that accursed dog mask.  
“Six men in pursuit.” The captain told them, voice pushing through harsh, wheezing pants. He seemed to struggle to carry the man with the Cat mask in his back (unconscious, unmoving) but didn’t seem intent on handing him to anyone else.  
“Ninjutsu users, the woman with the short hair uses paralysis with her lightning. Leader is poison specialist. Long range are their strong suit.” He spilled out as fast as he could.  
“Do not worry, we will take it from here.” Gai reassured, even if he couldn’t really muster the thumbs up or the grin he would usually bring with the words.  
Two gates and the constant help of his teammates were enough to fell down another two pursuers.  
The exhausted ANBU helped as well, throwing distractions and creating openings so that Gai’s team could act. Gai had even seen Hound’s sharingan being used against the enemies.  
And sure enough the third pursuer died, and then the fourth. And then they gave up on the chase.  
Their little joint team ran for a few more minutes just to make sure, and then finally stopped to tend to their wounded.  
Hound barked orders back and forth, not once stopping as he overlooked every single detail of their stay.  
“Genma, I need you here, get me an antidote ready, Cat’s been poisoned several hours ago, get the fever down. Tanuki, keep pressure on that leg. Why is there no medics in this team? I need needle and thread. Weasel, set a perimeter, they cannot track us.” The organized chaos flowed as Hounded pointed, and everyone obeyed.  
“Gai.”  
And Gai did his best to refer only to the beast that faced him. He didn’t manage very well.  
“I need this sent to the hokage. Use your summons to get it there as soon as possible.”  
Hound pulled a scroll from under the cloak he wore and for a second Gai could see the crimson that stained the underside of it.  
Gai took the scroll from the trembling hands.  
He summoned his tortoise and did his task. When he turned around again, Hound was already somewhere else, tending to one of his men’s wounds.  
“I’m sorry captain. I shouldn’t have let myself get captured.” Weasel said, lowly enough, but Gai was a shinobi, and shinobi had good ears.  
“I told you not to worry about it already.” Was Hound’s curt reply, before he set off to do something else.  
Gai held onto his arm as he tried to pass by him.  
He looked into the hound’s eyes, spotting just a half lidded one staring back through the cracks.  
“Are you okay?” He asked seriously, trying to stare through all the masks.  
The hound recoiled, and the captain waved him off and pulling his arm away.  
“Fine.” He grumbled, walking away.  
Or tried to.  
He took a step, the next resembling more of a stumble. He hesitated, swaying in place, a hand reaching out to the hem of his cloak.  
And then…  
He tripped.  
Gai holding onto him tightly was the only thing that stopped him from smashing his head against the floor as his body buckled in on itself.  
“Kakashi!” Gai cried, breaking the fragile illusion they had built to themselves.  
Kakashi didn’t complain, or couldn’t. Kakashi wasn’t moving at all.  
And Gai thought that maybe removing the hound would let him get just a piece of his rival and this cold indifference he had been so wrapped in, but the cold that met him ran even deeper through skin and eyes.  
Completed stilled.  
He wasn’t breathing.  
“Kakashi!” He cried again, panicked enough to draw the fear of everyone else listening.  
He acted on instinct. Ripped open the cloak looking for any dangerous wound that should’ve been looked over but falling short.  
He placed his hands on top of Kakashi’s heart and pushed. One, two, three, four… he kept the steady, strong rhythm, just as he was taught many years ago.  
“Get a medic!” He yelled. Not sure to whom, he couldn’t really look behind him while he pumped Kakashi’s chest. He heard the shuffling and more orders being barked so he had to believe that was enough.  
Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… Kakashi’s face was as white as the porcelain that so often covered it, the bloodstains of his own wounds acting as the patterns that adorned it. He didn’t look peacefully asleep, he simply looked terrible, with his body jerking with Gai’s movement and eyes half lidded still. Gai could be wrong though, afterall he couldn’t see much through the tears that fell from his eyes. 

Fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven…  
No one else could do it. They were tired and hurt (and honestly, even though Gai’s arms started to burn, he was afraid to stop). Kakashi had been running for four days, according to his team, rescuing them from a mission that should have definitely killed them. Kakashi had given every ounce of his body to keep his teammates alive, and when he couldn’t anymore, he willed his heart to keep beating until they were safe.  
And when that finally happened, the thing just stopped.  
But if Kakashi’s heart decided to stop, then Gai would be the one to keep it going. And if Kakashi ever decided to give up, Gai would fight for the both of them. Because Gai had been there for Kakashi since they were too young and he’d never really let go.  
Kakashi would never have to ask, but Gai would be there and wouldn’t ask for a thing in exchange. And some would call him stupid, delusioned for doing such for Kakashi. But when Kakashi was willing to push himself to the point he found himself into at the moment for the sake of others, then why couldn’t Gai do the same for him?

A hundred and twenty, a hundred and twenty one, a hundred and twenty two. His arms shook violently, the ache of the gates still present, sweat running down his arms and face. He stared at the sad pool of tears he made on Kakashi’s chest. Kakashi who kept giving him the same empty stare for the past few minutes. And Gai hated how that expression didn’t feel out of place in his face at all. Gai was afraid he was starting to forget what any other expression looked like on his rival’s face. He tried to remember the sound of his laughter as he pushed into unmoving lungs and felt himself coming empty. He didn’t dwell on it much, keeping the correct count was hard when his brain was busy thinking of other things, so he let go of the memories and promised himself to push a hundred times more in perfect timing. A self rule of sorts.

Three hundred and sixty seven, three hundred and sixty eight, three hundred and sixty nine. The image of his rival had blurred into his vision, a copy of it mirroring slightly whenever he moved his eyes. Would you fight for yourself, Kakashi?  
If not, then please leave it to me.  
He didn’t manage to think of much else.

He must’ve been around four hundred when a medic kneeled besides him, starting to work on Kakashi. Gai couldn’t stop pumping, not yet, so he simply continued.  
When he was finally instructed to stop his arms kept pulsating painfully.  
Electricity ran into Kakashi’s chest instead and after his body jolted once, twice, then his heart continued the rhythm Gai had to remind it to keep.  
They told him Gai had been at it for at least ten minutes.

Gai said he didn’t really keep the count.

When Kakashi woke up, he looked at Gai and he didn’t look happy, nor he looked sad. And it was only the minute movement of his eyes, the slow rise and fall of chest that confirmed he was alive.  
Gai on the other hand felt like his chest might burst with the emotions that swelled up inside. And all that certainty and drive suddenly puffed up as they stared at each other. Should he be mad things had reached that point, despite knowing he’d do the same? Should he be happy it turned out fine despite how much it hurt to go through it? He let all the emotions flood and mix up until his eyes filled up with tears and the love he felt burned at his skin.  
“That was a bit over the top, rival!” He said, “over the top”ly.  
Kakashi snorted.  
He didn’t even notice how his hand snaked around Kakashi’s wrist, counting the kind rythm under the warm skin.  
One, two, three, four...


End file.
